


Meanwhile, back in Whitestone...

by LadyOfSnakes



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Gen, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-23
Updated: 2016-08-30
Packaged: 2018-08-10 15:56:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7851568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyOfSnakes/pseuds/LadyOfSnakes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of vignettes about what's happening back in Whitestone while Vox Machina goes on their adventures. Expect spoilers through whatever is most current.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Dollhouse

“Cassandra?” Percy pulled her aside just after breakfast, the day after their return from the Feywild. He waited until most everyone else had left the dining room before he continued. “Do you remember my dollhouse?”

“Your… I remember _a_ dollhouse, Percival. You weren’t the only one who made things for it.” Cassandra smiled slightly, thinking of the tiny rugs and drapes Whitney had spent so much time embroidering. “Yes, I remember. Why?”

“I brought back some actual fairy furnishings for it.” Percy pulled a small package wrapped in a cloth from his pocket. He carefully untied the wrapping, revealing a tiny chair carved from wood and a few clay dishes the size of buttons.

She couldn’t help smiling wider. Gently, she picked up the chair and examined it. Yes, it looked like it would fit in perfectly. “The children will love it.”

Cassandra turned on her heel and started walking away.

“The…children?” Percy sputtered, then followed her. He stayed at her side as she walked up to the old nursery, though he lingered at the door when she went in.

The room had been dark and closed for years. Cassandra had been a bit too old for most of the toys within before the Briarwoods had come, and after…. well, it had been nice to see Salda in here with her children and the children of the servants. There were a few toys still out, a tea party set on the table and the dollhouse had its furniture scattered about the floor around it.

Cassandra knelt down and put the chair in the parlor of the doll house, then turned and smiled up at her brother. “It fits perfectly.”

It took another moment before Percy entered the nursery. Long before the Briarwoods came, he had ceased to come in here. (The dollhouse had been enshrined on a table in the sitting room near his bedroom.) He’d preferred the library or his workshop to toys even then. He hesitated, then put his hand on Cassandra’s shoulder.

“They’ve moved everything around. Why would the kitchen be adjacent to the library and not the dining room?” He reached down to move something, and she slapped his hand away. “What was that for?”

Cassandra glared up at him. “You will not ruin what the children have built. Go move some real furniture if you want.”

“Hmph.” Percy scowled back down at her before finally tapping her on the top of her head. “Fine. But give me the chair back, please. If it’s going to be a _toy_ instead of a trophy, Keeper Yennin should look at it first.”

“A trophy?”

He shrugged. “I stole it after we helped some werewolves destroy a pixie village. Just in case, it should be looked at before someone plays with it.”

Cassandra knew it was unbecoming, but her jaw dropped anyway.

“To be fair, the pixies were assholes.”


	2. The Shrine

Kash had been surprised when he found out what Zee was up to. Not surprised that she was up to something, as the woman led a far more interesting life than he did. But cleaning up a crypt in a creepy graveyard and turning it into a shrine to the other goddess of Death was an extra-special level of interesting. Even for Zee. 

It was a small room, this ~~crypt~~ shrine, made entirely of the same white stone that all the important buildings around here were made from. He’d heard that wizard lady, the girlfriend of that halfling paladin, talking about the stone and how it was magically, arcanely important. He hadn’t listened though, so all he knew was that there was a reason it was special. It looked nice enough though, cleaned up and polished the way it was. There was a pedestal at one end with a large, shallow dish on top of it, and that was about it.

“So this is what you’ve been up to?” Kash asked as he looked around the little shrine. “I never took you for the religious type.”

“I was asked to do it, and this part was well within my abilities.” Zee smiled at him. At first, he’d found her pupil-less eyes unsettling, but he had learned how to read them quickly enough. 

“So what do you need me for, Zee?”

She gestured at the mostly-empty space, as if that answered his question on its own. “I’ve never decorated a shrine before, and I don’t know if the Raven Queen would like my moon aesthetic. I’m not one for feathers.”

“She accepted Vax instead of Vex, so she can’t be that picky.” As soon as he said it, he tried to dodge, but felt Zee’s tail whip the back of his legs anyway.

“I’m serious, Kash. Percy asked me to put this together. They may have a god on their side in this fight, and Vax should have a shrine to her.” Her fingers traced the edge of the dish, which he now realized held a pool of dark liquid that looked suspiciously familiar.

“All I know about her is what we saw in that tomb. She likes feathers and fish people and beholders.” Kash shrugged and shook his head, “And necrotic death traps. I don’t think De Rolo wants us putting one of those in here.”

Zee’s pale eyes narrowed at him, and she put her hands on her hips. Her disappointed frown said more than any words, and the long minute while she waited for him to continue seemed to drag on forever.

He sighed, “Look, when we were…channeling her, I guess I was just so worried about getting Vesh’s attention that I didn’t realize who was answering at first. But she felt _different_.”

Kash had to stop for a moment to collect his thoughts. The past few weeks had been spent trying to forget about the events in the tomb, how close he had been to bringing Vesh back into the world. How his friends had looked, surrounding Vex’s empty body. How Zee had looked. (He hadn’t known Zee could be that scared.)

“She’s not scary. Or at least she wasn’t then. She wasn’t there to enjoy the pain of someone’s death.” He hesitated; any more would be way too close to home for now. Instead, he focused on what he could manage to think about. “I don’t think this place needs to be all doom and gloom. It has enough of that with the friggin’ graveyard outside. If Vax thinks this place needs feathers or something, let him bring them. We should just make it comfortable. Bring a bench in here at least. A rug or something too. We could make it a bit warmer.”

Zee nodded and perched her chin on her hand, thinking for a moment. “Yes. It doesn’t have to look quite so much like a tomb. Thank you, Kash.”

“Whatever you say, Zee. I’ll help.” He smiled back at her and kind of shrugged again. After all, this was not exactly his field of expertise either. He could help her carry a bench in though.

“ _And_ ,” Kash thought, “ _As far as Goddesses of Death go, the Raven Queen’s okay_.”


	3. Giggling Teenagers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like to remember that Cassandra is still a teenager herself. I don’t think it was pegged exactly, but since Percy is in his early 20s, and Cassandra was four children behind him, she’s 17-18 at this point. Also, I just wanted to give her a chance to be a giggly teenager.

_“No! I don’t want to play with Grenn and Illia. Just leave me alone!”_

The upper halls of Whitestone Castle always echoed, but with all the shouting, Cassandra could have heard it all the way from her own room. As it was, she had just turned the corner on her way to speak to Salda when Odessa, the oldest of Salda’s children, went running by, nearly crashing into her.

“Odessa, what’s wrong?” Her question went unanswered, and she hesitated for a moment, looking down to hall to where Salda stood. The woman looked frazzled, and so Cassandra just held up her hand and nodded, before turning back and following after the girl.

She followed Odessa down the hall, and caught up with her in one of the sitting rooms. It had been a few weeks since the Tal’Dorei family had come to Whitestone as refugees, but Cass had lived in this castle her whole life. Even though the younger girl was obviously trying to hide, she didn’t have much of a chance.

“If you’re going to tell me to go back to the nursery, just go away now. I don’t want to go.” Odessa had tucked herself into a window seat, hidden behind the thick curtains meant to keep the northern chill out.

“May I join you then? If I don’t tell your mother where you are?”

There was a pause, and then a small hand reached out and drew the curtain back, giving Cassandra an opening to crawl in herself. She tucked her feet under her and leaned against the window casement, looking out over the south side of the castle and over Whitestone itself.

“How old are you, Odessa?” Cass asked, though she kept looking out the window.

The other girl made a face. “Fourteen. Why? Do you want to lecture me about behaving like a young lady?”

“Gods no! That’s your mother’s job. I’m still getting those lectures from Archie and Keeper Yennin.” She looked over at Odessa and mirrored her scowl. “And I think Percival wants to lecture me, but he’s not around enough to justify it. And he knows I’d call him a git.”

Odessa gasped, then started to giggle. “But he’s a hero, isn’t he? Didn’t he save your life?”

“Yes. And then he left me with a city and a council to run while dragons destroy the world. I love my brother, but he’s still a pretentious git sometimes.” She pointed out the window to the city, where she could see the top of the Sun Tree cresting over the buildings in the center of town. “I don’t know when, but he’s going to come out of that tree with the rest of Vox Machina, and then one of them will be stabbed, or the castle will be attacked, or he will have made Scanlan a Count or something.”

“Count Shorthalt would be a sight.” Odessa kept giggling as she shook her head. “Would he really do that?”

“No, I don’t think so. I think Percival’s still mad about the acid.”

At that, Odessa stopped laughing and just looked confused. “Acid?”

“Shorthalt threw one of his guns in acid.” She rolled her eyes. That had been such a terrifying day, and the fact that her brother held a grudge over destroying the cursed thing was just another reason he drove her crazy. “It was for the best, but he was really upset about it. And he actually did come back from one of their trips having titled Vex’ahlia. They come back from the Feywild and now she’s a Baroness of Whitestone.”

“I thought you were in charge here, though. Can he even do that?”

“No! I approved it for him and made the case to the council though. It makes sense, to have Vox Machina have more of a stake in the city. And well…” They were alone, but still Cassandra dropped her voice to a whisper and leaned in towards the other girl. “I think he is in _love_ with her.”

“Ooh!” Odessa squealed at the gossip and started laughing again. “That’s so romantic. Does she love him back?”

Cassandra shrugged, and kept her voice at a conspiratorial whisper, “I don’t know, but she calls him “Dear” all the time and I’ve seen her kiss his cheek. Maybe when they’re alone together they’re just mugging down all the time.”

Whatever had been bothering the younger girl earlier was forgotten as she thought about the gossip and the possibilities. “Or maybe they want to get married and he gave her a title so they’d be of similar rank.”

That made Cassandra laugh as well. The thought of her brother, poncy, brittle Percival doing some grand gesture like that…well, actually, that was just the right amount of overdramatic for him. He always liked when other people knew how clever he was, maybe he did just want to show off his social engenuity. “Maybe. I don’t know if he cares enough about nobility for that to matter to him though. Maybe he just wanted to give her something really special.”

“OH!” Odessa nearly bounced out of the window seat as an idea struck her. “You’re the head of the de Rolo family right? Since you’re on the council and need to approve things? And if she’s a Baroness, you’re her lord as well?”

“Yes…” Cassandra said, nodding slowly as she did not see where this was going.

“Then you’re the one in charge of politics and alliances! You should marry your brother off!” Her eyes were wide as she kept going, “With Tal’Dorei in chaos there isn’t really a nobleman for you to ally with yourself, but you need heirs, right? So your brother is obligated to marry a noblewoman that you pick for him. And a Baroness is a good choice, right?”

Cassandra buried her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking as she laughed and imagined it. She could play up his noble and filial obligations, maybe even say _What would Father want you to do?_ just to see the shade of red he would turn.

She drew herself as tall as she could while still sitting down and mimicked what she remembered her mother sounding like, so long ago now. “Percival, I have been thinking quite a bit about our family’s standing in the new Tal’Dorei. Unless we are to be the last of our line, one of us needs to be married. I have found the perfect noblewoman to be your wife. Lady Vex’ahlia, Baroness of the Third House of Whitestone and Grand Mistress of the Grey Hunt.”

Odessa was laughing again, and Cassandra joined in as she continued, “Now, dear brother, go make me an heir.”

_After that, Odessa spent less time in the nursery and more with Cassandra while she went about her duties. The next time Percival returned to the castle, both girls started laughing, much to his confusion._


	4. A Challenge

Allie was away. Again.

Being in Whitestone was better than being in cloistered up in the Platinum Sanctuary, sure, and it was _slightly_ warmer here. Still, Kima would rather Allura get back from her most recent mission. Sometimes, she felt a little useless here. She had her afternoon training sessions with some of the new recruits of the Whitestone guards and her daily devotions. Other than that, her calendar was depressingly empty and she was bored.

Kima strolled through the center of town, stopping to look at the Sun Tree, towering over the sunny square. It was a big tree, yeah, but other than Keyleth using it as a door, it didn’t seem so special. If Pelor had planted it though… 

She shrugged and said a silent prayer anyway. They could use all the help they could get, especially until Allura got back. She, Pike, Gilmore, and that Realmseer fellow had come up with a clever protection thing that was supposed to hide them. It seemed to have worked, considering they weren’t frozen solid by an ancient white dragon, but she saw Gilmore that morning and he looked terrible. 

(Though some dark part of her she didn’t want to think about was happy it wasn’t Allura looking dead on her feet at least.)

She couldn’t help with the dome and her training session wasn’t set to begin for another few hours. And so Kima decided it was time to track down some rumors.

After she and Allura had been targeted by an assassin, she’d overheard some of the Whitestone guards talking. Apparently someone had been promoted within the ranks because Vox Machina trusted them. Kima had talked to a few of the guards (possibly less politely than Allura would have liked, but she only got a say in that when she was actually around to say it) and found out about the patrol rotations.

She had then lectured the guards about revealing that information. For all they knew, she was a goddamn devil cat like the one that’d tried to kill Vax. 

Kima spotted the patrol she was looking for, arriving in the square right on time. She headed straight for them, catching the eye of the tall human woman wearing a captain’s cloak over her guard armor. “Are you Trisha?”

Both guards stopped. The woman looked down at her, then waved her partner off on. If she recognized the paladin, she didn’t show it on her face. “I am. How may I be of service?”

“I want to bet a meal on arm wrestling.”

Trisha’s eyes narrowed, then she looked around as if expecting someone to be watching them. “Really? Are you sure?”

“I’m Lady Kima of Vord. I’ve fought beholders–that’s plural, by the way–beside Vox Machina. And I want to challenge the woman who beat Grog Strongjaw in a test of strength.” Kima looked up at Trisha, her hands on her hips.

With a smile, Trisha nodded. “Well then, Lady Kima, I accept your challenge. My patrol rotation ends at midday.”

“I will meet you in the town square. Bring some of your fellows with you. Your guards look as dour as the Bastions back in Vasselheim. Let’s give them a show.” Kima nodded back, then reached out and shook the guard’s hand.

The other woman had a strong grip, and Kima was suddenly a little relieved that Allie wouldn’t be there to see the match.

**Author's Note:**

> I posted a list of headcanons about Whitestone and what's going on there on tumblr twoish weeks ago, and I'm going to keep expanding it here. Enjoy! I'm infanttree on tumblr, if you want to see me there and possibly read some completely unnecessary analytical essays.


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